The Dictionary of Demons, page 58
Suchay: A demon of love and lust who specializes in bespelling widows. His name appears in the Elizabethan grimoire known as the Book of Oberon, where he is listed among the twelve highest-ranking ministers of Paimon, king of the west. In addition to acquiring the love of widows, Suchay is also a teacher of languages and a demon of transport. He has the ability to whisk people away so they travel great distances in the blink of an eye. He manifests as a beautiful woman, when he deigns to appear. Compare to Sucax. See also BOOK OF OBERON, PAIMON, SUCAX.
Sudoron: A demon whose name is also rendered Sumuron. He is ruled by the infernal prince Paimon, one of the four demons associated with the cardinal directions in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. See also MATHERS, PAIMON.
Suffales: A demon of discord and warfare, Suffales incites arguments and shatters peace. According to the Book of Oberon, he is one of twelve high-ranking ministers of King Oriens, the reigning king of the east. That text warns that Suffales is a mendacious demon, rarely telling the truth. With effort, he can be constrained, at which point he appears like a spark of flame. See also BOOK OF OBERON, ORIENS.
Many superstitions surrounded the poisonous mandrake plant. It was rumored to grow only near the gallows. Image from a medieval woodcut. Courtesy of Dover Publications.
Suffugiel: A demon named in the Peterson translation of the Grimorium Verum, Suffugiel is credited with the curious ability of providing mandrakes. This could prove very useful to an aspiring magician since, according to legend, the mandrake root lets out a bloodcurdling shriek when harvested. The sound of its voice is exceptionally harmful, and it was thought to strike dead any mortal who happened to hear it. In addition to providing risk-free mandragora roots, Suffugiel is said to also supply familiar spirits. He additionally teaches magick and the dark arts. In the demonic hierarchy, this demon is one of four main spirits serving beneath the infernal king Satanachia. His name appears in the Secrets of Solomon under the variation Suffugruêl. His name is alternately given as Suffugrel or Sustugriel. See also GRIMORIUM VERUM, SATANACHIA, SECRETS OF SOLOMON.
Sugunth: A demon named in the True Keys of Solomon. According to this text, Sugunth works as one of five principal spirits in service to chief Satanachi, an agent of Lucifer. Satanachi is a variation on the demon Satanachia. See also LUCIFER, SATANANCHIA, TRUE KEYS.
Supipas: A name that may mean “relating to swine.” Supipas appears in the Mathers translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. In this text, he is reputed to serve the arch-fiends Magoth and Kore. See also KORE, MAGOTH, MATHERS.
Surgatha: A demon from the Peterson translation of the Grimorium Verum, Surgatha is credited with the ability to open any lock instantly. According to this work, Surgatha serves as the fifteenth demon under the infernal duke Syrach. Surgatha also appears in the True Keys of Solomon and the Secrets of Solomon, where he is again attributed with the ability to unlock anything. A variant of his name is Surgath. After his duke, he serves Lucifer. See also GRIMORIUM VERUM, LUCIFER, SIRACHI, SYRACH.
Suriel: One of a dozen demons said to hold the rank of chief duke beneath the demon-prince Dorochiel. According to the Ars Theurgia, Suriel himself commands forty lesser spirits. His name is only one letter off from that of the demon Suriet, who is also said to serve Dorochiel as a chief duke. Suriel owes allegiance to the court of the west. See also ARS THEURGIA, DOROCHIEL, SURIET.
Suriet: A demon in the hierarchy of the infernal prince Dorochiel, Suriet holds the rank of chief duke and has a total of forty lesser spirits beneath him. His name is remarkably similar to that of the demon Suriel, who is also said to serve Dorochiel in the capacity of chief duke. Both demons appear in the Ars Theurgia. See also ARS THEURGIA, DOROCHIEL, SURIEL.
Suvantos: A demon in the service of Almiras, the master of invisibility. Suvantos is said to also serve Almiras’s infernal minister Cheros. According to the Clavicula Salomonis, Suvantos is a demon of illusion and trickery. He can be called upon to make people invisible. He appears in the same capacity in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. See also ALMIRAS, CHEROS, MATHERS.
Sword of Moses: A work that claims to have been published from a unique manuscript, presumably in Hebrew. The book was produced by Dr. Moses Gaster in London in 1896. Gaster was a highly respected scholar of Hebrew, responsible for a making a number of works connected to Jewish folklore and beliefs available in English. The Sword of Moses is a Jewish magickal text that may date back as far as the ninth century. The book outlines a method of magick with clear Solomonic and Qabbalistic influences. Many of the spells in the book involve curses and aggressive magick. Demons and so-called wicked angels are called upon to carry out most of this dark work. See also GASTER.
Sworn Book of Honorius: Also known as the Liber Juratus, or simply the Sworn Book. This book was supposedly written by Honorius, son of Euclid, and inspired by the angel Hochmel. The name of the angel is almost certainly derived from the Hebrew word hochmah (sometimes also transliterated as chochmah), meaning “wisdom.” Hochmah is also one of the ten Sephiroth on the Qabbalistic Tree of Life. It is called the Sworn Book because those individuals chosen to receive a copy were allegedly sworn to have only one copy of the book for themselves and to have this copy buried with them when they died. Secrecy is stressed in the opening passages of the text, and that secrecy is put forward as crucial to the continued survival of the mystic arts contained within the book. The text is comprised primarily of orations and prayers, although it also contains sections on angels and demons. There are similarities between some of the orations found in the Sworn Book and orations found in the Ars Notoria, indicating a connection between the two texts. There are also similarities between portions of the Sworn Book and the Heptameron, attributed to Peter de Abano. Several of the demons connected with the spheres of the planets have variations that appear in the Heptameron. In the Heptameron, however, all of these spirits are identified as angels.
Some of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Sworn Book were written in the fourteenth century. These are kept in the British Museum under the designations Sloane MS 313 and Sloane MS 3854. Of these, Sloane 313 is known to have belonged to the famous English magician Dr. John Dee. Occult scholar Joseph Peterson counts the Sworn Book among the oldest and most influential medieval manuscripts on magick, suggesting that it has its origins as far back as the thirteenth century. Most versions of the text are entirely in Latin, although a manuscript exists that contains Latin as well as some English. This is also kept in the collection at the British Museum and is known as Royal MS 17 Axlii.
In 1977, Daniel Driscoll of Heptangle Press undertook one of the first modern English translations of this work. This was published under the title The Sworn Book of Honourius the Magician. For many years, this remained the only English version of this Latin text. In 1998, Joseph Peterson produced a translation for his resource site,
esotericarchives.com. This translation draws primarily upon Royal MS 17 Axlii. There are significant differences between the Driscoll and the Peterson translations, including changes in nearly all of the demon names recorded in the book. According to Peterson, the discrepancies are partly due to errors on Driscoll’s part, but also occur because Driscoll simply failed to use the best manuscripts. Because of the significant differences, not only in the spelling of the names but in the demons’ associations, powers, and offices, I have included demons from both texts under separate entries in this work.
Syeonell: A demon whose preferred form is that of a ferocious bear, although he can be compelled to take human form. Upon doing so, he appears as a small child. His name appears in the Elizabethan grimoire known as the Book of Oberon, where he is said to teach all kinds of languages and to reveal hidden treasure. That text gives his rank as either count or earl and says that he has eighteen legions of lesser spirits under his command. See also BOOK OF OBERON.
Sylquam: Named in an extensive invocation intended to procure 100,000 pounds of lawful coin in gold and silver, Sylquam appears in the Book of Oberon along with Malcranis and Rasinet. In the course of the spell, all three are threatened to have their images cast into fire, along with cat turds and other foul-smelling substances as punishment, if they fail in their task. See also BOOK OF OBERON, MALCRANIS, RASINET.
Syman Mobris: A rare demon with a first and a last name. He is called upon in the Book of Oberon to craft books overnight. He is said to have knowledge of conjuration, alchemy, nigromancy, the sciences, and the arts. He can produce books on any or all of these topics. Symeam is a variation of his name. See also BOOK OF OBERON.
Symiel: The second spirit under Demoriel, the Emperor of the North. In the Ars Theurgia, Symiel rules as a mighty king in the north by east. Only ten dukes serve him during the day, but by night this number increases to one thousand. The demons who serve Symiel by day are all reputed to have good and tractable natures. The demons who serve him by night, however, are stubborn and willful. Symiel can also be found in Johannes Trithemius’s Steganographia. See also ARS THEURGIA, DEMORIEL.
Synoryell: A demon who appears in the form of a bear, possibly rabid. He understands the languages of birds and beasts and can teach the same. Named in the Book of Oberon, he is identified among twelve chief ministers of the demon-king of the north, Egin. Like many demons in that grimoire, he can be called upon to reveal the location of hidden treasure. See also BOOK OF OBERON, EGIN.
Syrach: A grand duke of Hell named in the Peterson translation of the Grimorium Verum. This fierce spirit rules over eighteen other demons, each of whom have different powers and offices. The True Keys of Solomon contains a variation of this demon. Instead of Duke Syrach, however, he is called Chief Sirachi. He is said to serve directly beneath Lucifer. In the Secrets of Solomon, a seventeenth-century grimoire from Venice, he appears along with Lucifer and a demon named Beschard in a spell to bring lightning. He is also called upon in an invisibility spell. See also GRIMORIUM VERUM, LUCIFER, SECRETS OF SOLOMON, SIRACHI, TRUE KEYS.
Syrtroy: A demon who has powerful abilities to deceive the senses. According to the Munich Handbook, Syrtroy is one of several demons who can be called upon to help create an illusory castle. This castle will not merely be a glamour that misleads the eyes, but it will appear real in all respects. The magician and any associates will reputedly be able to enter the building and interact with its servants and foot soldiers (all presumably demons themselves). The spell further states that Syrtroy, as well as his infernal companions, can only be called up in a remote and secluded location on the tenth night of the moon in a secret and remote location. The text calls for an offering of milk and honey. The name of this demon may be a variation on Sitri, one of the traditional seventy-two Goetic demons. See also MUNICH HANDBOOK, SITRI.
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55. Moses Gaster, The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, p. 136.
56. H. W. Percival, Sepher Ha-Zohar, or The Book of Light, p. 148.
57. A. E. Waite, The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, p. 77.
58. Daniel Driscoll, Sworn Book of Honourius, p. 101.
59. Darcy Kuntz, The Grand Grimoire, p. 24.
Tablat: A demon named in the Mathers translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. He is one of a number of demonic servitors who operate under the authority of the arch-demons Asmodeus and Astaroth. As a servant of these two greater demons, he can be summoned and compelled in their names. See also ASTAROTH, ASMODEUS, MATHERS.
Tachan: A name that may mean “grinding to powder.” Tachan appears in the Mathers translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, where it is said that he is ruled by the arch-demon Beelzebub. Other versions of the Abramelin material spell his name Tedeam. See also BEELZEBUB, MATHERS.
Tagnon: A servitor of the four infernal princes of the cardinal directions: Oriens, Paimon, Ariton, and Amaimon. Tagnon is a demon named in the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. According to this text, he is one of over three hundred unclean spirits summoned and bound to the magician’s will as part of the Holy Guardian Angel rite. See also AMAIMON, ARITON, MATHERS, ORIENS, PAIMON.
Tagora: According to Mathers, the name of this demon comes from a Coptic term meaning “assembly.” Tagora appears in Mathers’s edition of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, where he is said to serve under the dual leadership of Magoth and Kore. See also KORE, MAGOTH, MATHERS.
Takaros: A demon ruled by the infernal prince Paimon. In his translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Mathers suggests that the name of this demon comes from a Greek word meaning “soft” or “tender.” See also MATHERS, PAIMON.
Tami: A demon of illusion from the fifteenth-century Munich Handbook. He is named in connection with an ambitious spell designed to conjure an entire castle out of thin air. This illusion is said to include a moat, battlements, knights, servants, and soldiers. This massive feat is to be undertaken outside in a remote and secluded spot. Tami and his infernal brethren will only answer the call at night on the tenth day of the lunar cycle. His name is also spelled Tamy. See also MUNICH HANDBOOK.
Tamiel: A fallen angel named in the Book of Enoch, Tamiel is depicted as a sort of angelic lieutenant in this extra-biblical text. He is described as one of the “chiefs of tens” put in charge of a small group of the Watchers. He broke his trust with Heaven through sins of the flesh. His immediate superiors were the angels Shemyaza and Azazel. The Watcher Angels are sometimes also called the Grigori, from the Greek word meaning “to watch.” See also AZAZEL, SHEMYAZA, WATCHER ANGELS.
A confrontation between angels on the shores of the Lake of Fire. From an illustration by Gustav Doré.
Tamon: A demon whose preferred form is that of a foul-mouthed goat. According to the Book of Oberon, where his name appears, he is not only rude but also incredibly indiscreet in his speech. For those willing to put up with his nasty chatter, this demon can help to find precious stones, minerals, money, and other treasures hidden in the earth. Fifty legions serve him and he holds the rank of king. See also BOOK OF OBERON.
Tamor: According to the Book of Oberon, when this demon first appears, he manifests as a living flame so bright it is blinding. Although he can be compelled to take human form, he will do so only reluctantly. He is given the rank of prince and is said to have thirty-four legions of lesser spirits beneath him. Among his powers is the ability to make his summoner known to influential people and also gain their favor. Additionally, he can reveal hidden treasure and help his master acquire it, but only if the treasure is not guarded by other spirits. Finally, he can teach astronomy and the liberal arts, assuming one has the patience to deal with him. His name is sometimes written as Chamor. See also BOOK OF OBERON.
Tangedem: This demon answers to Almiras, the master of invisibility, and his minister, Cheros. According to the Clavicula Salomonis, he is a demon of trickery and illusion. He can be called upon in a spell to make someone invisible. Tangedem appears in connection with the same work in Mathers’s translation of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. See also ALMIRAS, CHEROS, MATHERS.
Tantavalerion: In the Book of Oberon, this demon is addressed as “emperor and most magnificent ruler of all spirits.” The language suggests that he ranks even higher than Lucifer, Satan, and Belzebuth, the unholy trinity who hold lordship over the demon-kings of the cardinal directions and all the spirits that serve them. If this is true, then Tantavalerion is one of the most overlooked infernal beings in history, as his name is barely known outside of the grimoires. The Book of Oberon is not the only book of magick to mention Tantavalerion in this capacity. The manuscript known as e Musaeo 173 from the Bodleian Library and published by Daniel Harms as Of Angels, Demons & Spirits also mentions this supreme ruler of all spirits, with only a slight variation on the spelling of the name. In that text, he appears as Cantivalerion. In either case, his name is invoked in order to make other spirits submit, be docile, and refrain from harming those who have called upon them. He is invocated along with seven other spirits identified as senators, another term fairly unique to demon-kind in the grimoires. These infernal senators serve directly beneath Tantavalerion as Orymell, Tygra, Danall, Salarica, Pascary, Boell, and Asmoo (possibly a variation of the more familiar Asmoday). The Book of Oberon mentions a second name for Tantavalerion, and it’s an interesting one: Golgathell. Although there is nothing in the Book of Oberon to suggest the origin or meaning of this name, it is nevertheless tempting to connect it to the biblical Golgotha. To Christians, this is the site of the Crucifixion. In Aramaic, the word means “skull,” and it is the name of a dome-like hill just outside the walls of Jerusalem. The Romans knew the place as Calvary. See also ASMOO, BEELZEBUB, BOELL, BOOK OF OBERON, DANALL, LUCIFER, ORYMELL, PASCARY, SALARICA, SATAN, TYGRA.
Taob: This bold prince of Hell commands twenty-five legions of devils. When summoned, he appears as nothing more than an ordinary man. According to the fifteenth-century grimoire known as the Munich Handbook, Taob is a demon in charge of the affairs of the bedchamber. He can inflame a woman with love for the magician. Should she not race immediately to be by his side, the demon can transform her into another shape entirely, until such time as she relents to her newfound passion. Another potentially desirable ability accorded to this demon is the power to render people sterile. This may come in handy in preventing any illegitimate issue from illicit, demonically inspired affairs. There is no indication in the text as to whether or not Taob’s powers also work to compel love in men. See also MUNICH HANDBOOK.
